At 3:45 Beijing time on March 25, the semi-finals of the World Preliminary European Zone Play-offs, Trajkovsky defeated the European Champions Italy 1-0 away from North Macedonia and will compete with Portugal for a Ticket to the Qatar World Cup.
After the results of the draw for the play-offs, the group of Italy was more discussed about the fact that the two European Champions of Italy and Portugal would stage a summit duel, while ignoring the dark horse of North Macedonia.
In the group stage of the World Preliminary Round, North Macedonia won 3-1 at home to Iceland in the final round with the scoring of 22-year-old Napoli midfielder Elmas, and won the second place in the group and qualified for the play-offs. However, in the play-offs against Italy, The only Elmas in the North Macedonian squad worth tens of millions of euros was suspended, and the total value of the remaining players was only 38 million euros. Italy, on the other hand, has reached a starting lineup of 430 million euros and a total value of 650 million euros, which is 8 times that of North Macedonia.
As a result, North Macedonia, a small European country with a population of only 2.08 million, kept a clean sheet against World Cup four-time champions Italy in the case of a 4-32 shooting ratio, and finally sent the other side out with a world wave kill.
Last year, the North Macedonian team reached the European Championship for the first time in its history, and the world has known this dark horse, and now they have eliminated Italy, just one step away from entering the World Cup. If they can pass portugal, they will have their first World Cup trip in team history. It will also be the second consecutive year that they have reached an international competition.